Huawei unveils foldable sporting Harmony OS 5

Huawei-Pura-X-launch-China-1

richard-yu-230-copy-png-650

Huawei introduced the Pura X to the Chinese market, a flip-style foldable which is the first smartphone to come with the latest version of its Harmony OS.

The Pura X runs Huawei’s Harmony OS 5.0.1 and features AI assistant Xiaoyi, which uses models from the vendor’s Pangu and DeepSeek.

Xiaoyi can be used for tasks including managing calls, downloading videos and automatically generating video logs.

The latest device in the Pura series features a wider form-factor than typical flip phones, Huawei noted, incorporating a 16:10 aspect ratio for its 6.3-inch internal display.

On the outside, its 3.5-inch cover display is designed for users to manage brief interactions including answering calls, navigating music and viewing notifications without having to unfold the device.

It sports a 40MP ultra-wide and 8MP telephoto lens offering 3.5-times optical zoom, with a 10.7MP front camera.

Sales are due to commence in China on 30 March at price of CNY7,499 ($1,036) for the standard version offering 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage.

A variant featuring 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM is set to retail for CNY9,999.

In a translated statement on the launch Huawei executive director and consumer group CEO Richard Yu (pictured) hailed the device as breaking “the boundaries of traditional device forms, offering an e-book-like reading experience, tablet-level immersive viewing and the compact convenience of a foldable phone”.

By Amiya Johar

Source: www.mobileworldlive.com

Safaricom Ethiopia Teams Up with GSMA to Tackle Digital Access Gaps

Safaricom

Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC hosted a dynamic workshop session with GSMA at their headquarters, focusing on advancing digital inclusion within the communities.

This collaborative effort specifically addressed the critical usage and gender gaps that persist in digital access, ensuring that our strategies are inclusive and impactful. Our dedicated employees from the Consumer Business Unit (CBU) actively participated, gaining valuable insights and recommendations from GSMA experts on overcoming key barriers such as handset affordability and digital literacy—factors essential for fostering a more inclusive digital landscape.

– Excerpt from Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC’s Announcement

During the workshop, the team engaged in brainstorming sessions to develop scalable and commercially sustainable solutions.

By prioritizing key actions and outlining a high-level implementation roadmap, we aim to empower individuals and communities to fully participate in the digital revolution. This initiative marks a significant step toward creating a brighter, more inclusive future for all.

– Excerpt from Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia PLC’s Announcement

Source: Tech Africa News

SoftBank makes $6.5B move for chip designer Ampere

SoftBank

SoftBank Group sealed a deal to acquire US-based chip designer Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion, a company it stated produces high-performance, energy efficient AI compute based on the Arm platform.

In a statement, SoftBank explained the deal aligns with its broader strategic vision and commitment to driving innovation in AI and computing, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of 2025.

SoftBank chair and CEO Masayoshi Son said Ampere’s expertise in chips and high-performance computing “deepens our commitment to AI innovation in the US”.

Ampere founder and CEO Renee James added: “This is a fantastic outcome for our team and we are excited to drive forward our AmpereOne roadmap for high performance Arm processors and AI.”

The acquisition has been approved by SoftBank’s board and will be made through its subsidiary Corp Silver Bands 6 (US), which will purchase all shares of the company based in Santa Clara.

After completion, Ampere will become an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary and retain its name and headquarters.

The deal is subject to standard regulatory approvals including antitrust clearance by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, along with the satisfaction or waiver of other closing conditions.

SoftBank holds a majority stake in UK-based chip design company Arm.

Source: Mobile World Live

HMD lauds enduring Nokia brand appeal

Nokia

A senior figure at Nokia licensee Human Mobile Devices (HMD) insisted there was still broad demand for feature phones sporting the Finnish giant’s logo years after the brand’s consumer heyday, while citing positive early progress with devices launched under its own name.

HMD SVP for Europe and ANZ James Robinson (pictured) told Mobile World Live the Nokia brand still had “huge demand” in the feature phone space, but when it came to smartphones its own name had been introduced partly in a bid to appeal to younger consumers.

He noted its research had uncovered “a lot of people who were buying Nokia smartphones were somewhat older, so we needed to actually address how do we get into a fresh young audience and that’s where the HMD brand came from”.

In the feature phone space, he pointed to good sales of Nokia-branded devices across numerous markets and demographics.

“The audience is really broad: we sold 2 million feature phones in India in one month. We have a huge audience across Africa, in the UK Eton [College] bought Nokia 105s…and they issued them [to students]”.

He also noted progress with basic devices being used for events including music festivals where smartphones might get damaged and as safer options for children, with parents one of its current target markets.

Nokia noted in its annual report for 2024 HMD signed an exclusive licensing agreement to use its brand in 2016 which expires “by March 2026”.

Figures released at the end of 2024 showed the Finnish vendor held a 10 per cent stake in HMD.

Discussing the relationship between the two and the current agreement, Robinson said Nokia is “a very good partner of ours” along with being a shareholder.

“I can’t really speculate about what happens beyond the end of the contract, other than there’s still huge demand for Nokia devices.”

Own brand progress
In recent years, the company has spread its wings beyond Nokia with a number of white label and partner releases including with Mattel, Heineken and FC Barcelona.

It also pushed feature and smartphones under its own brand.

Robinson said HMD was “quite pleased” in the own-brand push, with “some markets better than others”.

He noted there is “obviously a lot of competition in that sub-$500 space at the moment and it just takes time to build these brands”.

“The US has been outstanding”.

“In Kenya we’ve done more sales over there with the HMD brand than we’ve done on Nokia”.

“We’ve done better than expected and when we benchmark ourselves against other brands that have introduced products to markets like Europe, we’d be on par or better than their performance”.

He also noted “in India we’ve doubled our feature phone sales since we introduced the HMD brand. It just enables us to play in different channels or with different partners than we do with Nokia and that makes sense creates a bit more choice”.

Source: Mobile World Live

Verizon adds satellite messaging to Android devices

Verizon

Verizon fired shots across the bows of rivals AT&T and T-Mobile US by launching a direct-to-device (D2D) satellite messaging service across several Android devices.

A Verizon representative told Mobile World Live the service for smartphones in the Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google Pixel 9 ranges is being made available through an existing partnership with Skylo Technologies.

The operator stated upgrades enabling the service started yesterday (19 March) and will continue over the next two weeks.

It is in addition to D2D emergency and location services launched with the same provider and its Apple satellite messaging for iPhones equipped with iOS 18.

Rival T-Mobile US is currently conducting a beta of satellite messaging covering 500,000 square miles across the US.

Meanwhile, AST SpaceMobile is using Verizon and AT&T’s spectrum in a beta of D2D video calls.

Source: Mobile World Live

EC turns up heat on Apple, Alphabet

Apple

The European Commission (EC) continued its pursuit of Apple and Alphabet over compliance with its Digital Markets Act (DMA), laying out interoperability demands for the former and issuing preliminary findings on the latter’s claimed non-compliance.

In separate statements, the regulator pressed-on with attempts to ensure the US tech giants meet the requirements of the legislation introduced in 2022.

The EC’s document on Apple provided what it described as measures to assist DMA compliance related to interoperability with iOS for third-party connected devices.

It outlined required changes around granting manufacturers and app developers access to a series of iOS features primarily used to connect smartwatches, headphones, TVs and similar devices.

These, it asserts, would mean “connected devices of all brands will work better on iPhones”.

The regulator also detailed measures to improve the “transparency and effectiveness of the process that Apple devised for developers interested in obtaining interoperability with iPhone and iPad features”, including improved access to technical documentation for upcoming changes.

“Apple is required to implement the specified measures,” it added, though noted “as always, these decisions fully respect Apple’s rights of defence and remain subject to independent judicial scrutiny”.

Alphabet
In its disclosure about Alphabet, the authority issued a pair of preliminary findings claiming breaches for prioritising its own products and services in Google Search and issues related to the Google Play app store.

With regards to the latter, it noted “under the DMA, app developers that distribute their apps via Google Play should be able, free of charge, to inform customers of alternative cheaper possibilities, to steer them to those offers and to allow them to make purchases”.

The EC stated its preliminary finding was “Alphabet fails to comply with that obligation”.

Findings have been sent to Alphabet to examine while its full investigation into the issues is ongoing.

Source: Mobile World Live

NVIDIA and Telecom industry leaders to develop AI-Native wireless networks for 6G

6G word glowing on a blue background

NVIDIA unveiled partnerships with T-Mobile, MITRE, Cisco, ODC, a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management, and Booz Allen Hamilton on the research and development of artificial intelligence (AI)-native wireless network hardware, software and architecture for 6G.

Next-generation wireless networks must be fundamentally integrated with AI to connect hundreds of billions of phones, sensors, cameras, robots and autonomous vehicles. AI-native wireless networks will provide enhanced services for billions of users and set new standards in spectral efficiency — the rate at which data can be transmitted over a given bandwidth. They will also offer performance and resource utilisation while creating new revenue streams for telecommunications companies.

“Next-generation wireless networks will be revolutionary, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to ensure AI is woven in from the start,” said Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Working with leaders in the field, we’re building an AI-enhanced 6G network that achieves extreme spectral efficiency.”

Open ecosystems drive innovation

Research-driven breakthroughs harnessing the power of AI are necessary to maximise the performance and benefits of AI-native wireless networks. To drive innovation, NVIDIA is collaborating with telco and research leaders to develop an AI-native wireless network stack based on the NVIDIA AI Aerial platform, which provides software-defined radio access networks (RANs) on the NVIDIA accelerated computing platform.

Developers across the globe are building AI-RAN as a precursor to AI-native 6G wireless networks. AI-RAN is a technology that brings AI and RAN workloads together on one platform and embeds AI into radio signal processing.

To deliver enhanced spectral efficiency and lower operational complexity and costs, AI will be fully embedded into the network stack’s software and hosted over a unified accelerated infrastructure, capable of running both network and AI workloads. Also at the solution’s core will be end-to-end security and an open architecture to foster rapid innovation.

T-Mobile and NVIDIA will expand their AI-RAN Innovation Centre collaboration announced last year with the goal of providing additional research-based concepts for AI-native 6G network capabilities, working alongside these new industry collaborators.

“This is an exciting next step to the AI-RAN Innovation Centre efforts we began last September at our Capital Markets Day in partnership with NVIDIA,” said Mike Sievert, the CEO of T-Mobile. “Working with these additional industry leaders on research to natively integrate AI into the network as we begin the journey to 6G will enable the network performance, efficiency and scale to power the next generation of experiences that customers and businesses expect.”

As the founding research partner, MITRE, a not-for-profit research and development organisation, will research, prototype and contribute open, AI-driven services and applications, such as for agentic network orchestration and security, dynamic spectrum sharing and 6G-integrated sensing and communications.

“MITRE is working with NVIDIA to help make AI-native 6G a reality,” said Mark Peters, the president and CEO of MITRE. “By integrating AI into 6G in the beginning, we can solve a wide range of problems, from enhancing service delivery to unlocking required spectrum availability to fuel wireless growth. Through all of our collaborations with NVIDIA, we look forward to creating impact in 6G, AI, simulation, transportation and more.”

Cisco plans to take a lead position in this collaboration as the provider of mobile core and network technologies and will tap into its existing service provider reach and expertise.

“With 6G on the horizon, it’s critical for the industry to work together to build AI-native networks for the future,” said Chuck Robbins, the chair and CEO of Cisco. “Cisco is at the forefront of developing secure infrastructure technology for AI, and we are proud to work with NVIDIA and the broader ecosystem to create an AI-enhanced network that improves performance, reliability and security for our customers.”

ODC, a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., will deliver cutting-edge layer 2 and layer 3 software for distributed and centralised units of virtual RAN as part of the AI-native radio access stack. Tapping into decades of experience in large-scale mobile systems, ODC is pioneering next-generation AI-native 5G open RAN (ORAN), surpassing existing networks and paving the way for 6G evolution.

“The mobile industry has always taken advantage of advances in other technology fields, and today, no technology is more central than AI,” said Shaygan Kheradpir, the chairman of the advisory board of ODC. “ODC is at the forefront of developing and deploying AI-native ORAN 2.0 networks, enabling service providers to on-ramp seamlessly from 5G to 6G by taking advantage of the vast AI ecosystem to redefine the future of connectivity.”

As a leader in AI and cybersecurity to the federal government, Booz Allen will develop AI RAN algorithms and secure the AI-native 6G wireless platform. Its NextG lab will conduct functional, performance integration and security testing to ensure the resiliency and security of the platform against the most sophisticated adversaries. The company will lead field trials for advanced use cases such as autonomy and robotics.

“The future of wireless communications starts today, and it’s all about AI,” said Horacio Rozanski, the chairman and CEO of Booz Allen. “Booz Allen has the technologies to make AI-native 6G networks a reality and revolutionise secure communications for an entirely new generation of intelligent platforms and applications.”

Expanded aerial research portfolio

These collaborations build on NVIDIA’s AI-RAN and 6G research ecosystem, supported by advancements in the NVIDIA Aerial research portfolio for developing, training, simulating and deploying AI-native wireless innovations.

New additions to the NVIDIA Aerial Research portfolio, also announced today, include the Aerial Omniverse Digital Twin Service, the Aerial Commercial Test Bed on NVIDIA MGX, NVIDIA Sionna 1.0 — building on the open-source Sionna library, which has nearly 150,000 downloads since its launch in 2022 — and the Sionna Research Kit on the NVIDIA Jetson accelerated computing platform. 

The NVIDIA Aerial Research portfolio serves over 2,000 members through the NVIDIA 6G Developer Program. Industry leaders and more than 150 higher-education and research institutions from the U.S. and around the world are harnessing the platform to accelerate 6G and AI-RAN innovation — paving the way for AI-native wireless networks.

Kenya’s mobile subscriptions reach 71.4 mln amid growing demands

images-1

Kenya’s active mobile phone subscriptions grew by 2 percent to reach 71.4 million as of December 2024, up from 70 million in October 2024, the country’s communications industry regulator said in a new report released on Tuesday.

According to the quarterly report by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the country’s mobile phone penetration rate reached 138.5 percent, maintaining an upward trend as demand for telecommunication services continues to expand.

“This growth is mainly attributed to the busy festive season during the same period,” the CA said in the report.

The report also noted an increase in mobile money subscriptions, which rose to 42.3 million by December 2024.

The CA said that online activities such as streaming movies, e-learning, and remote work have accelerated demand for high-speed internet, leading to increased adoption of advanced technologies, including 4G and 5G. As a result, mobile data subscriptions grew to 56.1 million by December 2024.

Smartphone penetration reached 80.5 percent, driven by the expansion of mobile broadband networks, which now cover 97 percent of the population, the report added. 

Source: Xinhua

Ericsson scores Vodafone Spain 5G core deal

images

Vodafone Spain lined up Ericsson to provide the bulk of a standalone (SA) 5G core network, advancing a goal to cover 90 per cent of the nation’s population with the technology by the close of the year.

Ericsson was selected as the operator’s main technology partner in the project for residential customers. The equipment maker intends to provide dual-mode 5G core technology which it stated will tap into current infrastructure to contribute to the operator’s coverage ambition.

The deal spans four years: Ericsson pledged its work would help improve “network operational processes and customer experience”.

Ericsson explained the SA 5G core houses “the network intelligence” enabling functions including slicing, improved latency and advanced edge computing.

Latency of less than 10 milliseconds is possible “within ideal conditions”, Ericsson stated.

The vendor explained Vodafone Spain would be able to deliver services based on the standardized APIs prevalent in SA 5G networks, along with offering network-as-a-platform functions.

By Michael Carroll

Source: https:www.mobileworldlive.com

GIFEC Leadership Engages Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications on Closing Ghana’s Digital Divide

WhatsApp-Image-2025-03-20-at-10.57.39

The leadership of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) has paid a courtesy visit to the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) to discuss collaborative efforts aimed at growing and strengthening Ghana’s telecommunications and digital financial ecosystem. 

Led by Dr. Tanko Rashid Computer, CEO of GIFEC, the delegation included Deputy CEO Abdul Aziz Mohammed, along with key team members Henry Agyemang Boateng, Ruth Azantilow, Alhaji Yahaya Zakaria Osman, Fredrick Kojo Aidoo, and Vincent Amponsah. The meeting brought to the fore the need for increased collaboration to bridge Ghana’s digital divide, enhance rural telephony, promote Girls in ICT initiatives and support governments’ One Million Coders Initiative. 

Strengthening Collaboration to Advance Ghana’s Digital Agenda 

During the discussions, the CEO of the Chamber, while welcoming the GIFEC team, emphasized the strong and cordial relationship between the Chamber and GIFEC. He highlighted that members of the Chamber sit on GIFEC’s board, demonstrating the industry’s commitment to supporting GIFEC’s mandate. 

The Chamber reiterated its full support for GIFEC’s initiatives, particularly efforts to bridge the existing telecom usage deficit in underserved communities. The discussion also explored how Ghana has become a leading example of how Universal Service Funds (USF) are managed to drive national digital transformation.    

Growing the Industry to Sustain GIFEC’s Mandate 

The meeting also explored long-term strategies to expand Ghana’s telecom and digital financial sector. On his part, the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications Ing. Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, together with his management team made up of David Aryeetey, Alaina Dedry-Amuzu and Bobbie Osei, pledged to work closely with GIFEC to find sustainable solutions that support universal access to connectivity while ensuring financial viability for all players. 

Key suggestions included: 

– Encouraging industry-wide growth. 

– Strengthening mobile money and digital financial services to create revenue streams in underserved communities. 

– Investing in fixed broadband infrastructure to enhance connectivity and economic opportunities. 

As Ghana continues its push toward a digitally inclusive economy, partnerships between GIFEC and industry leaders like the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications will be critical in bridging the digital divide and ensuring equitable access to digital services for all citizens.